Homemade Plum Jam
This is one of the easiest jams you can make. You don’t need pectin and it cooks pretty quickly into sweet, thick jammy goodness. I prefer a softer set, so I stopped cooking mine a little sooner than you might prefer. I like a jam that spreads easily, even after it has been opened and stored in the fridge. I love this jam.
I did a test with just a couple of plums. The flavor was great, but some of the pieces of the peel seemed too big. I could see them in the finished jam. To insure the skins got chopped up, I cooked my jam for awhile then used an immersion blender to smooth it out. This is just a cosmetic preference. You can just cook down chopped up plums and they will be fine.
So here is the recipe. I got it from the NCHFP website. The only changes I made was to up the processing time to 10 minutes, so I didn’t have to sterilize the jars. I also let the jam sit in the canner a few extra minutes to prevent siphoning.
Plum Jam
2 quarts chopped, pitted tart plums (about 4 pounds) – any plums will work
6 cups sugar
1½ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
Combine all ingredients; bring slowly to boiling, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to, or almost to, the jellying point (which is 8°F above the boiling point of water, or 220°F at sea level). Stir constantly to prevent sticking or burning.
Pour hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow jars to remain in canner 5 minutes before removing. Set jars on cooling rack or towel in a draft free place while they cool down. Check seals once jars are cool. Yield: About 8 half-pint jars.
Plum Glazed Wings
Plum Glazed Wings
I love when local fruit is in season. I found myself with lovely red plums and I decided to use some of them to make a sauce for chicken wings. I started by peeling the plums. You could leave the skins on, if you like, but I prefer them off. I put the plums in boiling water for a minute and then in cold water. The skins came right off. I removed the pits and pureed the plums- I ended up with a cup of fresh plum puree. From there it was a matter of creating the sauce. I minced an onion and cooked it in a little bacon fat- you could use butter or oil. I added a couple of cloves of minced garlic once the onions were tender. After that I added the plum puree, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, a couple of tablespoons of honey, a tablespoon of hot sauce and salt. I let it cook for about 10 minutes to thicken and gave it a taste. It was pretty good, but needed something more. I added some fresh grated ginger and let it cook a few more minutes. It was wonderful. I decided to smooth the sauce out in the blender but it would be fine to leave it be.
To cook the wings I just pan fried them. I cooked them in a skillet, covered for about 20 minutes, turning a couple of times. I poured the sauce over them and turned the heat down to medium. I let them cook, covered, another 10 or 15 minutes. Once I was sure the wings were cooked through I uncovered them and let the sauce cook down and thicken a little. It created a nice glaze on the wings. Easy and very tasty. I ended up pureeing more plums and tossed them in the freezer so I can make this sauce again when the weather is chilly and no fresh plums are around.
